I am the descendant of an indentured servant (read SLAVE) sent to the "new world" (Barbados) as a prisoner after participating in one of the Scottish "jacobite" rebellions against English tyranny.
he somehow (mysteriously) got away from Barbados and worked his way up to the mid-Atlintic colonies. He became a surveyor and surveyed what is now Maryland, West Virginia and many other areas. He bacame the right hand to Lord Baltimore and was granted much land of his own (including all of what is now Washington, D.C.).
The life of an indentured servant (or slave) was harsh, but not all of them died in this manner. There are plenty of stories like my ancestors. There are plenty of stories of freed slaves (living well in the South, of all places) that put the lie to the propoganda being pushed by the intelligentsia. Life was harsh and hard for "free men" at the time as well, let alone their wives and children. Yet they survived, thrived and built a new nation, based on new ideas of liberty that the world had NEVER seen before.
This poor child was grist for that mill. His pain did not go in vain, however small his contribution to the conciousness that led to the founding of our nation. Who knows what minds were affected by his tragedy? Who knows but God? Honor him, do not mourn him. He has gone to a better place.
We all die. It only matters how we act between now and then.
Hello, cousin. My earliest ancestor in the America's arrived from Scotland in 1653 as an indentured servant in Virginia. Nothing is known of the circumstances of his coming, however.
351 years in the New World, and none of us has ever made any money. I think I'm owed reparations or something.